FederalDaily - March 1, 2006

NTEU Lists Priorities for 2006

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) this week announced its priority legislative issues for 2006. The unions priorities include its opposition to the proposed Working for America Act (WFAA); support for a fair federal pay raise; efforts to secure an increase in the government’s contribution to federal employee health care premiums; greater efforts to prevent the privatization of federal work; and addressing a range of issues impacting Department of Homeland Security employees, in particular the lack of law enforcement officer (LEO) status. WFAA would extend pay-for-performance regulations throughout the federal government. “WFAA would place significant limits on employee collective bargaining, due process and appeal rights—and would replace the General Schedule pay system with untested, subjective and complex pay rules,” the union stated. “NTEU is strongly opposed to WFAA.”

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Demographics of Armed Forces Enlisted

Blacks—with an armed forces enlistment rate of 6.7 percent—were more likely to have enlisted in the armed forces soon after graduating from high school than were whites (3.9 percent) or Hispanics (4.5 percent), according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). BLS also said the percentage of high school dropouts enlisted in the armed forces was less than 1 percent. BLS derived its data from the National Longitudinal Surveys. These estimates are based on data collected from respondents who were age 17 in October during the years 1997 to 2002 and age 18 in October from 1998 to 2003.

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Forest Service Studies Major Outsourcing Plan

The Forest Service is studying how to contract out more than two-thirds of its total work force by 2009, according to a nonprofit organization called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER said its information is from agency planning documents, and PEER posted the documents at: www.peer.org/docs/fs/06_27_2_outsourcing_plan.pdf. PEER said specifically that the Forest Service is looking to potentially privatize large portions of its environmental, law enforcement, firefighting and research operations. Under the agency plans, 21,350 full-time jobs will soon be under review for possible replacement by private sector firms, according to PEER. For more information, see www.peer.org/news/.

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Marines Charged with Stealing Equipment

Nine marines were arrested and charged with stealing and reselling bulletproof vests and other equipment, the Department of Homeland Security announced last week. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation. Most of the marines arrested are stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Additional suspects may still be involved in military operations in Iraq, ICE said. Officials suspect civilian involvement and more arrests are expected as the investigation continues. Maj. Doug Powell, a Marine Corps spokesperson, said, “This type of activity will not be tolerated.”

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